Sports

AFC West roundup: Broncos could determine how hot the seats get

Kansas City wide receiver Dwayne Bowe walks back to the sideline as Pittsburgh celebrates its e overtime interception Monday. ( David Eulitt, Kansas City Star)

The AFC West continues to be the league's home of the hot seats, with two of the warmest — as in warm enough to smelt copper — residing in Kansas City and San Diego.

And in a quirky bit of fate, it is the Broncos and quarterback Peyton Manning who could have a lot to say about both spots.

The Chargers face the Broncos in Denver on Sunday in a game that could effectively put the Broncos in the driver's seat for the division title. And the Chiefs still have two games remaining against the Broncos and Manning — Nov. 25 in Kansas City and Dec. 30 in Denver.

Broncos blowouts in any, or all, of those games will certainly leave a mark for all involved in San Diego and Kansas City.

After a look at the video and conversations with personnel executives around the league, here's a rundown on the division:

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

The lowdown: Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli has taken plenty of criticism for plenty of his personnel decisions, but hidden in the team's gutty, yet still ill-fated, three-point overtime loss in Pittsburgh Monday night was the struggle Pioli has had putting anyone at wide receiver alongside Dwayne Bowe.

And why, while personnel people around the league put plenty of quarterback Matt Cassel's mistakes on Cassel's decision-making, they believe not all of the blame may rest at Cassel's feet.

After a 61-catch season in 2011, wide receiver Steve Breaston has been a non-factor in the Chiefs offense. He signed a four-year deal worth north of $22 million if he hits all of the benchmarks before the '11 season and he now has six receptions for 61 yards.

He hasn't started a game since Week 3 and was a gameday inactive in Pittsburgh Monday night - his hometown no less. Scouts say Breaston has been spotty catching the ball and hasn't consistently gotten separation to even put himself in position to make plays.

His longest reception this year is for 24 yards and that was in the opener and he doesn't have a catch longer than 12 yards since.

Then there is Jonathan Baldwin, who the Chiefs selected with the 26th pick in the 2011 draft.

Baldwin was supposed to take flight this season, especially when Bowe missed most of training camp this past summer because of a holdout. But Baldwin has just 16 receptions thus far, none longer than 26 yards, no touchdowns and looks increasingly uncomfortable with each passing week.

In four of the last five games, including Monday's, he has had one catch in each.

The Chiefs quarterbacks certainly haven't done themselves, or the team, many favors this season, but Breaston and Baldwin were also supposed to give far more help than they have.

Good to know: The Chiefs have the turnover grand slam going. They lead the league in turnovers with 30 overall, they lead the league in negative turnover margin at minus-20, lead the league in interceptions thrown with 15 and lead the league in lost fumbles with 15.

Yes, in the first year of his Oakland tenure, his Raiders defense is seeing the same kind of up-and-down, back-and-forth swing his Broncos defense did at times in 2011, his first and only year as Denver's defensive coordinator.

The Raiders surrendered 341 yards passing to Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco this past Sunday after they surrendered 278 yards rushing to the Buccaneers — rookie Doug Martin did most of that damage — the week before.

In all Oakland has allowed 934 yards and 97 points in the last two games.

Last season the Broncos had similar defensive mood swings in a year when Allen installed the defense without a benefit of an offseason program because of the NFL lockout.

The Broncos surrendered 190 yards rushing to the Raiders in the 2011 season opener and followed that up with 332 yards passing to the Bengals the following week. Later in the season the Broncos allowed 185 yards rushing to the Chargers and allowed 389 yards passing to the Vikings the following week.

Look at the game video and it's clear this year's Raiders have not been able to overcome a lack of depth in secondary. Their repeated injuries in the unit have caught up to them and they were not able to bolster the depth chart in just one offseason after a complete franchise makeover.

Last season the Broncos had repeated troubles, in both run and pass defense, when they had to go to the nickel (five defensive backs) and it was one of the chief areas of concern for the team this past offseason.

Sadly for Allen, help is not on the way until free agency opens in March or next April's draft.

Good to know: Allen said this week he expects right tackle Khalif Barnes, who has not played since Week 2 because of surgery to repair a torn groin muscle, to start this week against the Saints.

The lowdown: In the end, it's the plays defensive coordinators call "explosives" that have blown up at least part of the Chargers season.

Defensive coordinator John Pagano, a Boulder native, has the Chargers up to No. 7 in the league's overall defensive rankings, No. 2 in run defense, but it's been the high-end plays against the team's secondary that have repeatedly hurt the efforts overall.

"At inopportune times (we've) given up big plays in the passing game," said Chargers coach Norv Turner.

The Chargers have surrendered 21 pass plays of at least 20 yards this season, seven pass plays of at least 30 yards. And it's been a big part of what's tipped things toward their current 4-5 mark.

In their five losses, the Chargers have surrendered 15 of the pass plays or 20 or more yards, including four to New Orleans, five to the Broncos and three this past Sunday in the loss to the Buccaneers.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees had game-changing completions of 41, 40 and 40 yards among his totals while Peyton Manning had completions of 55 and 31 yards among his big-play total against the Chargers.

At least part of the issue is the Chargers haven't been able to slow many people down once they get the three-wide receiver looks from opposing offenses. They also, after getting to the quarterback with at least some regularity early in the season, now find themselves tied for 28th in the league in sacks with 14, or 17 behind the league-leading Broncos.

Outside linebacker Shaun Phillips has five sacks, but no other Chargers player has more than two.

Good to know: Over the previous four seasons, when Vincent Jackson was on the Chargers' roster, San Diego had at least one wide receiver among the league's top four in yards per catch.

Malcolm Floyd led the league in yards per catch in 2011, was fourth in 2010 (Jackson was sixth that year) and tied, with Jackson no less, for fourth in 2009 while Jackson was fourth in 2008.

This season, with Jackson now playing in Tampa instead of getting the opposing defense's best cornerback across from him with the Chargers, Floyd is ranked 21st in yards per catch at 14.7.

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